Grateful Dead

On March 23rd, the Dead test their new sound setup at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, and The Wall is born. From then until the tour year ends in October, Dead shows take place in front of the most remarkable sound system ever devised ' 641 speakers arrayed in a wall behind the band that fills the entire stage and rises about 25 feet high. It is living thunder ' and costs too much to support, both financially and in terms of human energy. On June 27th the band releases its second G.D.R.C. album, Grateful Dead From the Mars Hotel, complete with a complex visual pun on the cover about 'Ugly Rumours (originally Roomers),' which sets Dead Head gossip mills going. A September tour of Europe is riddled with drug abuse and unhappy vibes, and so after five shows at Winterland in October (filmed for posterity), the band decides to take its first long vacation ' perhaps, who knows' ' forever.